A WATER play feature in Newport’s Tredegar Park that has been plagued with issues over the years has been closed for good.

Newport council says it simply costs too much for the council to repair or replace the pirate-themed water play facility in Tredegar Park.

The feature hasn’t been open this season at all – it is thought that officers had been looking at a number of options but that it was just too expensive to continue.

Newport council opened the water-play feature – designed to entertain children during the summer – at a cost of £120,000 in 2007.

The authority now says it would cost £200,000 to repair or replace the facility.

In early July 2013 Newport council closed the facility for essential repairs after a mechanical fault.

Later that month fears that a minor bug may have been found there saw it closed again.

At the time the council said the water play area was being closed as a precautionary measure, with regular monitoring revealing the possibility of the bug.

The authority had said the system would be cleansed and chlorinated, and it was hoped it could be reopened within a couple of weeks.

However the equipment wasn’t reopened after that.

The water feature had earlier shut in summer 2008 because of maintenance problems.

A spokeswoman for Newport council said the water play feature “is currently closed and will soon be removed.”

“During the winter a series of structural and mechanical inspections were undertaken and the results concluded that the water play feature requires significant capital investment to replace the infrastructure to enable it to reopen,” she said.

“It would cost more than £200,000 for the council to repair or replace the facility and as a result of the council’s financial position it is not viable to repair it and so it will be removed.

“The council is extremely disappointed that it has to take this action but with a reduced budget and further savings to be found it is left with no other option.”